All Roads Lead Back to Hell
by Philip S
Summary: Excedo Inferi 9: Everyone always wondered what might have happened on the day Akathler awoke if Xander had only told Buffy about the imminent return of Angel's soul. Now, thanks to a vengeance demon named Anyanka, everyone finds out. Now Complete!
1. Chapter 1 of 12

All Roads Lead Back to Hell - Excedo Inferi #9  
By Philip S. 

Summary: Buffy and Angel are not the only ones who have wondered a thousand times over what might have happened had Xander told the Slayer about the imminent return of Angel's soul on the day Akathler awoke. Now, thanks to a vengeance demon called Anyanka, they find out. No one will like the answer.  
Rating: R  
Disclaimer: All characters you recognize from BtVS belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and whoever else chipped in. I own but the plot and the few original characters.  
Note: This is Excedo Inferi's version of the Season 3 episode "The Wish"

#

Author's Note: I'm trying to get back into the writing swing a bit, so here's the first chapter of the latest episode of Excedo Inferi. I hope to get this one done faster than the last one, which took almost 1 and a half years from start to finish. I'll be trying to beat that and wrap things up within a year. ;-)

Enjoy! 

#

Previously on Buffy the Vampire Slayer:  
When Buffy had to choose between killing Angel or letting the world go to Hell she did her duty. Accompanying Angel to Hell, the two fought their way through all nine circles of the Inferno before returning to Earth. Now, back home in Sunnydale, things are slowly going back to normal. Buffy is starting to forgive Xander for not telling her about Willow restoring Angel's soul. Cordelia, who broke up with Xander over his behaviour regarding Buffy and Angel, is willing to mend fences with him as well, but both their feelings have changed and a renewal of their relationship seems unlikely.

#

Part 1:

Cordelia Chase, former uncrowned queen of Sunnydale High School, lately a member of the weirdo group surrounding one Buffy Summers, walked down the corridor of her school and tried to focus her thoughts. A test was coming up later today, an important one. She had to nail it if she wanted to maintain her average. No matter how much money her father was willing to dish out to send her to college, she still had to make the grade.

It wasn't made easier by the fact that she had much more important things on her mind. Some were demon-related. She would never admit it to the rest of the ridiculously named group (if she had any say in it they wouldn't be called Scoobies or Slayerettes or any such nonsense), but she did occasionally think about the puzzles currently facing them. The new vampire master Khan, the mysterious sorcerer situated somewhere in the city's centre of power, those things did weigh on her mind now and then.

The largest part of her thoughts was occupied with something else, though. Two something elses, actually, though the topics were related. One was the infuriating boy called Xander Harris, her ex-boyfriend (a term she refused to grace him with in public). She wasn't quite sure where they stood right now. Somewhere between being a couple and being mortal enemies, but where exactly was anyone's guess.

Then there was that other someone. That someone for whom she had begun developing feelings quite unexpectedly. Being complicated all by itself, it made the whole Xander-mess even more complicated. Some part of her wanted to fix things up with the dark-haired boy who had been her first real boyfriend (instead of simply a hanger-on guy to strut around with). If she was honest with herself, though, her feelings for him weren't quite there anymore. She was willing to forgive him, but fix things up? She didn't really want to do that, especially considering that there might just be someone else.

"I heard the most disgusting rumour today," a shrill voice announced from somewhere behind her and Cordelia turned to see her former friend (speak: first among the sheep that followed her around) Harmony Kendall. The dim blonde was approaching her with a superior smile on her lips.

"I'm glad you've got the whole hearing thing down by now," Cordelia told her with a smile of her own. "How are the lessons in comprehending going?"

Harmony frowned at her for a moment, but then apparently decided to continue on her earlier course despite whatever Cordy had just said.

"Let me tell you, when I heard you had broken up with that loser of yours I was hoping you might have come to your senses, but now I'm told the two of you were on a date last week. You are not seriously thinking ..."

"However dreadful you might find the notion of 'thinking', Harmony," Cordy interrupted her, "but what I do and don't do is none of your business. Never was, never will be."

"Okay, fine," the blonde huffed. "Commit another social suicide! I don't care anymore. Apparently you are quite happy hanging out with that juvenile criminal Buffy Summers and her weirdo friends."

Cordelia was briefly amazed that Harmony had managed a big word like 'juvenile criminal', but quickly returned to being bored out of her mind. How she had ever managed to endure more than five minutes of Harmony-exposure was a mystery all by itself.

"Run along, Harmony," she simply said. "This little chat of ours ceased to be fun ages ago."

Without waiting for a reply she turned around, heading toward her next class. If asked she'd be hard-pressed to say what it was about and she found that she didn't actually care very much. The term 'social suicide' kept ringing in her mind and not because of what Harmony had said about her and Xander getting back together. They wouldn't, she was pretty sure about that by now, but rather because of that other thing. That other someone.

When had her life become so very complicated?

"Hi," someone suddenly said behind her. "Can you help me? I'm new here and need to get to History class."

#

In another part of Sunnydale a demon was looking at her latest handiwork and found it good. Very good to be precise. Amazingly good she'd even say if she weren't so modest. Not that she was very modest. Modesty didn't become a demon like her and not just because it was a virtue. No, she did quality work and had a right to be proud of it.

She was almost a bit sad that she was already done here, though. She was a dedicated worker and went wherever she was needed, but she especially liked working on Hellmouths. With so much ambient energy in the air her powers were magnified. Just look at her latest case. 

Being a vengeance demon, she specialized in avenging scorned women. In this case the poor woman in question had wished that, just once, her son-of-a-bitch husband would find out what it was like to face the endless chores of cleaning, cooking, washing, over and over again day after day. In any other place the granting of that wish might simply have left the husband with an irresistible urge to take over the chores of his wife for the rest of his life. 

Not here, though. Here the bastard was now caught in a time-loop where he would have to clean the house over and over again until he died of old age, all the while mere minutes passed for the rest of the world. Quality work, that. She was quite smug.

Closing her eyes she felt at least three possible customers, all of them far away from here, though. Well, scorned women certainly weren't confined to Southern California. Taking one last look at her work she prepared to teleport in the general direction of Wisconsin.

Only to stop at the last moment as her senses picked up something unusual. A scorned woman, yet not? Something strange was going on here. Someone was definitely feeling scorned, but strangely the blame didn't seem to be centred on any male perpetrator. Or female for that matter (she was an equal-opportunity avenger).

Her curiosity piqued she decided to investigate.

Moments later she was walking the halls of the local High School, looking to all the world like just another seventeen-year-old on her way to class. It didn't take her long to find her potential customer. A striking brunette named Cordelia. Focusing her senses she felt some animosity toward a boy named Xander. Apparently her ex-boyfriend, who had in some way betrayed her. Yet there was surprisingly little anger to work with there.

Still, a betrayal was a betrayal. And even if there was very little anger to work with, this was still the Hellmouth. It'd be at least as good as anything she might find in a more mundane place. She made up her mind rather quickly.

"Hi," she said, approaching Cordelia. "Can you help me? I'm new here and need to get to History class."

  
TO BE CONTINUED  



	2. Chapter 2 of 12

**Author's Note**: What can I say, I'm an impulsive guy. Just this morning I wrote in my Live Journal that I was thinking about maybe, possibly continuing Excedo Inferi, now that I've somewhat gotten my fanfic gist back. And what do you know: It's evening now and I've gotten a part finished. Now don't go bouncing, I have absolutely no idea when I'll get around to the next part. 10 Parts to go in this episode alone and another 13 episodes in the 'season'.

Of course you all realize that massive amounts of reviews will help bring the next chapter out faster, right?

Enjoy!

* * *

**Part 2:**

Every instinct of Angel's was screaming at him to just go to Buffy's side and do what came so naturally to them after all this time, but he held himself back. It was for the best, he kept reminding himself. For the best, for the best, for the best. He had to keep telling it to himself or he would not be able to wait.

"How long?" he asked through clenched teeth.

Giles looked at the stopwatch in his hand.

"Two minutes, 15 seconds."

On the couch in front of the two men sat Buffy, sweat on her brow, trying to keep herself from shaking. This was difficult. God, it was difficult. For an estimated thirty years they had regularly fed on each other's blood. This had changed Buffy, was still changing her. Now that they were both out of hell she no longer needed the blood to survive, but she was still addicted.

And like with every addiction, the only way to defeat it was slow and very, very painful.

Buffy's breathing was already erratic. The need for Angel's blood came in regular intervals like clockwork and when it hit her she used to immediately go into seizures. Over the course of the last few weeks they had begun to lengthen the intervals between feedings. Which meant that Buffy had to endure the seizures for a time. She was able to delay their onset somewhat by way of concentration and meditation, but not by much.

Giles' stopwatch was just past the three minute mark when Buffy finally lost her grip and fell onto her side, her small body trembling like mad. Angel was by her side in an instant, picking her up, leading her mouth to his neck. Giles turned around, giving the two of them the illusion of privacy.

Whenever they shared blood it was like heaven. The taste of each other's life essence so sweet and delicious. How hard it was to remember that they needed to lessen the amount of blood exchanged, too. So it was with utter reluctance that both of them withdrew, even though they were both still feeling the need.

"How long this time?" Buffy asked after wiping the remaining droplets of Angel's blood from her lips. She was soaked with sweat and still a bit shaky. A hot shower was most definitely needed.

"Three minutes, eight seconds better than last time, Buffy. We are making good progress."

Buffy nodded, but couldn't quite get into the spirit of things. Sure, intellectually she knew that she needed to beat this addiction to Angel's blood. In Hell it had been necessary, otherwise she would never have survived. Here, though, it was a liability. Her dependence on Angel, the ongoing changes inside of her, first among them her temper, which was increasingly difficult to reign in.

Yes, intellectually she knew all this. It didn't make it any easier when every fibre of her being was crying out for just another little taste of the sweet red wine running through Angel's veins.

"I'm gonna take a shower," she said, getting to her feet. "When is Faith getting here for patrol?"

Giles looked at his watch. "She should be finishing her latest lesson within another ten minutes. She wanted to come here directly afterwards."

That, at least, did manage to put the ghost of a smile on Buffy's face. With Faith coming directly from another session with her harpy of a private tutor, chances were that her own misery would pale in comparison. After all, if one believed Faith, her tutor was the devil made manifest.

"I'll take a shower then. See you in a few."

* * *

"She IS the devil," Faith insisted, which caused Buffy to laugh. The sun had yet to go down, which was why Angel would only join them later on. Giles thought it would be a good idea for Buffy to spend more time in the daylight, no matter how uncomfortable it might feel due to the vampiric blood in her veins.

"You keep telling me that, Faith," Buffy answered. "Giles, on the other hand, keeps praising both her and the advances you've made since your lessons started."

The younger girl fidgeted a little. The idea of being good at anything other than fighting was still very new to her. It was a fact, though, that Faith was quite smart. She had just never been given the chance to show it.

"Giles is biased," Faith finally said. "He's my legal guardian, so he's gotta be supportive and stuff. And liking the harpy is probably genetic. She wears a blazer with elbow patches."

Faith shuddered at the image, which caused Buffy to laugh again.

The two Slayers kept walking as the sun dipped toward the horizon. Sunnydale's vampires usually appeared in two shifts. The older, more experienced ones came out right after sunset, looking to bag the people who had not made it indoors yet. The younger ones and the fresh risers didn't come out until past midnight most days.

Walking through Sunnydale's only decent shopping mall, Buffy and Faith kept their eyes open. Lots of people were still shopping late, lots of potential vampire snacks. For the moment, though, everything seemed quiet.

"Typical," Faith complained. "It seems every time I want to go slaying after my lessons no vampires show up."

"They probably know by now that you will only use them to work out your aggressions these days, Faith. Your lesson plan has probably become required knowledge for all Sunnydale vamps. Stay clear on Tuesdays and Thursdays!"

Faith gave her the finger, but smiled doing it.

A slight tingle made both Slayers look up at the same time. Over on the other side of the mall they spotted a familiar face.

"Isn't that Cordelia?" Faith asked.

"Yeah, and heading toward a shoe shop. What are the odds?"

Granted, Cordelia was no longer the shallow bitch queen of Sunnydale High that Buffy remembered from before her journey through Hell, but she was still the darling of every retailer this side of the Pacific. Her shopping sprees were legendary.

What had drawn the two Slayers' attention had not been their friend, though, but rather the girl walking beside her.

"Do you know that girl?" Buffy asked.

"Can't say I do. Are you getting a strange tingle from her as well?"

"Yeah. Not sure what it is. Not vampire, but something's off."

"Let's go check it out!"

Unfortunately it was not to be. The two Slayers ran across a small group of vampires about to lead a couple of young girls outside the mall, using some promise or other. By the time they had dusted the vamps and sent the girls home Cordelia was already on her way to the parking garage, bags hanging under her arms. There was no trace of her earlier companion.

"Hi, C," Faith greeted the brunette.

"Buffy, Faith! And wearing your working clothes," she said, motioning at the black leather coat Faith wore, the one she had swiped from Spike. "Evil on the prowl again?"

"Not so much, more like in the dust. Say, who was that girl you were with earlier?"

"Hm? Oh, that was Anya. She's a new student at Sunnydale High. Just moved here. I was showing her around."

Buffy dimly remembered her own introductory tour when she had moved to Sunnydale and started at Sunnydale High. There had been no trips to the shoe stores back then.

"Anything unusual about her?" Faith asked. "We picked up something of a vibe from her earlier."

"A vibe?" Cordelia asked, a slightly disgusted look on her face. "No way. She didn't burn in the sun and she likes to shoe shop, even though her stamina is somewhat lacking. She can't be a demon."

"If you say so," Buffy said, shrugging. "Still, I think we'll come by school tomorrow to give her the once-over. Just to be sure."

"You two are coming to school out of your own free will?" Cordy asked, a mock look of shock on her face. "The end of the world has arrived."

Laughing, the three friends walked off, unaware of the eyes watching them.

"This is going to be fun," Anyanka said to herself. "Oh yeah!"

TO BE CONTINUED


	3. Chapter 3 of 12

**Author's Note **: Seems a few people here and there were happy to see this one continue. Still, more reviews and feedback is needed. And in order to spurn you on, here is the part with the major cliffhanger: What's the wish? How will it affect the world? Well, this one will at least answer the first question.

And to answer some points:

_Queen Boadicea _: Sure I remember you. You were one of my most faithful reviewers on this story. Hope you plan on taking up that role again. And it was years ago, actually. I started this story in 2001.

_Serrafina _: As said above, you won't quite get your wish yet, but starting next chapter we'll find out what effects Cordy's wish has on the world. Oh, and that thing about Cordy and Faith? Whatever gave you that idea?

Enjoy!

* * *

**Part 3:**

School started much too early the next day, leaving Cordelia with no time to try out all her new shoes. Not that shoe shopping had really managed to distract her for long. Her mind was still going in circles over the same topics as yesterday.

"Hi, Cordelia," Anya greeted her.

"Hi, Anya. So, you made it to your second day, have you?"

"Barely," the new girl smiled. "Are you subjecting every new student here to that torture session you call shopping?"

Cordelia laughed. "Hardly. And you could hardly call that one a session. You quit after just four shops."

"How many shops did you visit?"

"Twelve! But only because Darcy's had closed early."

The two girls chatted as they walked down the corridor. Cordelia hardly noticed where they were going until she almost ran into a familiar body. Looking up, she saw Xander's face.

"Cordy, hi," he said, shyly brushing his hand through his hair. "How... how are you?"

There'd been a time not too long ago when she'd had zero trouble figuring out Xander Harris. Not that there had been much to figure out. Like most teenage boys his thoughts had centred on one of three things: Sex, food, and sports. Well, not so much sports.

Now, though, he constantly confused her. They seemed to have come to terms recently, yet something still stood between them. And it wasn't just the fact that Cordelia herself felt no particular desire to resume their relationship, despite still having feelings for him.

"Fine. I'm fine. You?"

"Oh, just great. So... see you later at the... you know?"

They were having a Scooby meeting (again with that silly name) later on, hoping to find some new information about Sebastian Khan. No sense mentioning evil vampires in front of the new girl, though.

"Yeah, I'll be there. So... see you then."

They walked past each other and Cordelia felt Anya's eyes boring into her side.

"Let me guess. Ex?"

* * *

"Hi, Giles," Buffy greeted the Watcher as she strode into the library.

"Hello, Buffy. Faith told me that she and you want to check out a new student today? Uh... she added that to check out' was not supposed to be taken in the sexual way."

"That's Faith," Buffy laughed. "Anyway, we saw Cordelia with this girl yesterday. Something about her... was strange. Not sure, but I thought it couldn't hurt to give her the once-over."

"Faith said much the same thing. Ah, here she is now."

Faith strode into the library, waving hello. "I just asked Red for C's whereabouts. Looks like she has chemistry now. Still remember where that is, B? Or was it too long ago for your ancient, senile brain to recall?"

"Ha! Ha!" Buffy couldn't quite keep the smile off her face. "I'll have you know I was pretty good in chemistry. And I do remember where the classroom is... I think."

She frowned for a moment, trying to remember.

"Third room behind the cafeteria," Giles supplied. "Not that you needed my help."

Buffy gave him an offended look. "What's the world coming to if even my Watcher is making cheap puns nowadays? Let's go, Faith!"

"If you're sure, B. I can get you a walking aid if you need it."

"Come along, youngling, and offend me no further!"

The two Slayers strode out the doors, still exchanging puns and trying to keep up earnest faces.

That is, until they rounded a corner. At that moment both their Slayer senses went on alert.

"You feel that?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah, someone's making with the voodoo. That way!"

The two took off running.

* * *

"Let me guess. Ex?"

Cordy sighed. She so didn't want to explain all this stuff to someone she had only just met. Then again, maybe talking about it would help some. And unlike her mother she didn't see the sense in paying some shrink hundreds of dollars an hour just to listen to her whining.

"Something like that," she finally said. "Shoulda known better, really. When I got together with him he was still pining like crazy after Buffy. Did some... really stupid things. I finally broke up with him."

"So you're still mad at him?" Anya asked, something like a predatory gleam in her eyes. Cordy ignored it, though. Sure, Buffy and Faith had said something about strange vibes coming from Anya, but honestly? If she were a demon, why would she be quizzing her on Xander Harris of all people?

The question was interesting, though. Was she still mad at Xander?

"No, not really," she said after thinking on it. "It's just... I'm kinda mad that things worked out the way it did. There were so many points where, if things had just gone differently, it would have turned out okay. If anything, I'm mad at him for being so stupid about the Buffy thing."

"Buffy thing?"

Cordelia frowned. How to tell this without going into the whole vampire/demon/Slayer thing?

"It was... well, Buffy was this girl he was pining after all the time. She shot him down once, but he kinda didn't get the message that she wasn't interested. Then Buffy's boyfriend... sort of went nuts on us."

"I'm sure Xander really liked that," Anya suggested.

"Oh boy, did he ever. It was like his vindication or something. Anyway, Buffy went to confront Angel -that's the boyfriend- about his... behaviour. Problem was, we... Xander, Willow , me, some others... had just found out... why he was behaving so badly. Long story. We sent Xander off to tell Buffy and... he didn't. And things went really ugly between Buffy and Angel. I'm talking End of the World ugly, you know?"

"Man," Anya huffed. "If my boyfriend had done something like that, I'd have ripped him a new one."

"Oh, I did. Multiple times. It's just... I kinda got over it. I guess Xander and me were never meant to last. We sort of reconciled, but... I don't want us back together. Besides, I think there might be someone el..."

"So you're not mad at him anymore?" Anya interrupted her. "Not wishing that he would... I don't know, get syphilis or something?"

Cordy gave Anya a look. "What? No, nothing like that. If I could wish anything, I guess I..."

"Yes?" Anya asked, a very eager look on her face. Cordelia did not notice, nor did she see Buffy and Faith coming around the corner or the looks they were giving the new girl.

"I guess I wish Xander would have had enough brains to tell Buffy about Angel and stuff. Then everything..."

"Done!"

That single word sent chills down Cordelia's spine. The voice wasn't Anya's. It was a deep timbre, menacing, chilling. She looked at her new friend and could barely suppress a scream. Anya's face had changed, almost like a vampire's game face, but worse. Her eyes gleamed. Cordelia heard Buffy yell something, the blonde Slayer running toward her, Faith hot on her heels.

"Wish granted!"

For a moment the entire world seemed to swim in front of her eyes. The scenery shifted. She was seeing a street somewhere. Buffy was there, walking purposefully toward a mansion with a sword in hand. Xander was running up behind her, nothing but a rock in hand.

She saw the two talk for a moment. Buffy gave Xander a stake in place of his rock. She wanted to stride on, but Xander held her back. At her quizzical look he hesitated for a moment, then spoke.

"Willow , uh... she told me to tell you..."

"Tell me what?"

Xander hesitated another moment, then came to a decision. "She will try the Curse again. So... if deadboy suddenly gets a funky gleam in his eyes or something, no longer tries to destroy the world and stuff... you know."

The last thing Cordelia saw was the flash of hope in Buffy's eyes. Then everything spiralled away into darkness.

**TO BE CONTINUED **


	4. Chapter 4 of 12

**Author's Note **: Well, here is the anxiously awaited next chapter. What are the effects of Cordy's wish? You'll get your first clue right here and it's a pretty big, beat-you-over-the-head clue. Hope you enjoy it. And to answer some points:

_Queen Boadicea _: Buffy and Faith can not so much sense the magic in the air, but rather the presence of a demonic creature as Anya begins to drop her disguise in order to fulfil Cordy's wish.

_Tefla _: Cordy definitely still cares for Xander, she just thinks he's a bonehead and things would have been much better had he just told Buffy about the return of Angel's soul. Is she right? You'll find out in this very chapter.

And now, on with the show:

* * *

**Part 4: **

When the darkness finally lifted the first thing Cordelia felt was pain. Oh God, how was it possible to hurt so much? Her back was burning agony, almost as if someone had flayed off the skin there. There was a terrible ache in her belly and she realized it was hunger, terrible, burning hunger. What was going on here?

Her vision finally cleared and she saw herself kneeling in rubble. All around here there was rubble and ruins. A terrible wind ripped over the land, tearing away at the few buildings that remained somewhat intact. The howling of the storm was so loud that she could barely think.

"Cordy, what are you doing?" someone yelled at her, barely audible.

Looking up, she saw a dark shape running toward her. She needed a few moments to recognize it as Xander, mostly because he certainly didn't look like she remembered him looking just a few minutes ago.

He was rake-thin, barely any meat on his bones. His clothing consisted of rags, bits and pieces that should have gone into the trash bin long ago, and what she could see of his skin was ashen, almost grey.

The most startling change was his eyes, though: They were hard, full of bitterness, devoid of hope. The only thing that remained was a spark of determination she had seen in him before. The one that said he wasn't going to die, no matter how outclassed or outnumbered he might be. Only this time there was no hope or humour paired with this look, only bitterness and spite.

Reaching her, he grabbed her arm and unceremoniously pulled her to her feet.

"I know you're hurt, but this is not the time to rest. Come on!"

She wanted to say something, anything, but there was no opportunity. Xander pulled her along without waiting for an answer and a moment later she realized why. There was something coming, something that crawled over the rubble like spiders and came closer with every second. Something her eyes refused to properly see. Something hideous and terrifying.

Figuring that there'd be time enough for explanations once they had gotten away from... whatever that was... Cordelia started running. Her legs hurt, her entire body cried out in protest, but she didn't care. Whatever was going on, she didn't want to be caught by these things.

They ran for what felt like hours, but it was probably no more than a few minutes. She felt so incredibly worn and tired. How was that possible? It was just morning, wasn't it? She had slept a good night's sleep, had felt rested. And she always made sure to stay trim and in shape.

Looking down at her body, though, she could barely suppress a scream of horror. She, too, was mangled and malnourished, as if she hadn't eaten in weeks. She could count every rib. Her skin had the same ashen colour as Xander's. Looking at her hands, she almost screamed again. Her nails were almost gone, splinters all that remained. Her fingers seemed misshapen, as if they had been broken and grown back together the wrong way. She could barely make a fist.

Who had done this to her? And how had he done it so fast? Without her noticing?

Xander finally stopped running, pulling her underneath a heap of rubble that formed something like a cave. There were scuttling noises close by, but a moment later they grew fainter and more distant. Then everything was quiet except for the howling of the wind.

Finally able to catch her breath, Cordelia looked at Xander. Was it Xander? How could he be so different all of a sudden? How could everything be so different?

"What's going on?" she asked, not able to think of a better question.

He looked at her, checking her over. Not in a sexual way, definitely not. He was obviously trying to ascertain her physical state, nothing more.

"Sorry it took so long, Cordy," he apologized. "I wish we could have gotten to you sooner, but there was just no way to do it before they moved you out to the pens."

"Pens? What are you talking about? What happened to you? For that matter, what happened to me?"

Again he looked at her, checking over her head this time.

"It's okay," he then tried to reassure her. "After what happened to you... we'll put you back together, okay? I promise! I'll make it okay! Somehow I'll make it okay!"

There was terrible anguish in his eyes, as if he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.

She opened her mouth to ask more questions, hundreds more, but suddenly Xander grabbed her and pushed her to the floor, a hand sliding across her mouth. For a moment she almost protested, but quickly fell silent as she heard new noises from outside. Peering outside, she could see something moving past them.

It was a long line of... people? Were those people? God, each and every single one of them looked like he should be dead by now. Mangled, crippled, barely more than skeletons with skin stretched across the bones. There had to be hundreds of them. Thousands. All chained together at the wrists and shuffling along through the rubble.

Some kind of... creatures were herding them like sheep. Some of them carried barbed whips, which they used with enthusiasm. Others just pushed people along, kicking those who fell down until they got up again.

Following a notion, Cordelia looked at her own hands and saw that there were steel manacles on her wrists, the skin underneath them chaffed raw. The same manacles as the ones the people outside wore as they were herded along.

A chill was settling in deep in her bones. This couldn't be real. None of this could possibly be real.

Xander didn't let go of her until the long line of people had shuffled past. It must have been several thousands at least. Young and old, male and female, black and white and everything in between. All of them with the same stooped shoulders and dead eyes.

"What's going on here, Xander?" she asked once they were alone again. Her voice sounded so small and fearful to her own ears. "All these people... what happened here?"

Xander looked at her for a long moment, then let out a strained, brittle laugh.

"I guess there are some plus sides to being tortured within an inch of your life. You forgot? God, I wish I could do that."

"Forgot what, Xander?" she asked, desperation now in her voice. "What happened here? What happened to Sunnydale? Why are there demons herding people like cattle? Tell me what the fuck is going on here!" The profanity didn't even register.

Xander looked down.

"Ignorance is bliss, Cordy," he mumbled. "If by some miracle you managed to block out what is going on here, you should let things be that way."

She grabbed him by the lapels of his dirty shirt.

"Tell me, Xander! What happened! Where are we?"

He gave her a sad, sad look.

"Where do you think we are, Cordy? Same place we've been for nearly a century now. We're in Hell."

**TO BE CONTINUED **


	5. Chapter 5 of 12

**Author's Note**: Well, it certainly looks like I might manage to finish this part of Excedo Inferi in under two years. The next episode after this one is the Excedo Inferi version of Amends, so maybe I can manage the Christmas episode around Christmas. 'Tis the Season and all that. Anyway, thank you for the reviews. And to answer some points:

_tefla_: You will find out what happened (or at least part of what happend) in this very chapter.

_Queen Boadicea_: You will get a glimpse of how vampires fare in this brave new world. As for Buffy and Angel, though... not yet. That's gonna take a few more chapters.

_Arobow_: You will find out how this Hell fits into the Dante's Inferno version Buffy and Angel travelled through, but not just yet. Safe to say, though, it's not a different Hell. Not quite, at least.

_Serrafina_: The fate of the rest of the Scooby gang and whether or not Angel got his soul back in this world will be answered a few chapters down the line. This one here gives you a few hints, though.

And now, on with the Show!

* * *

**Part 5: **

Cordelia did not know how long their journey took. She was still too stunned by Xander's revelation. They were in Hell? How was this possible? And for a century already? Surely that was nonsense. She didn't look a day older than she remembered being. Even if Xander was right (for once) and she had somehow blocked out memories of some terrible event, how could she be unchanged if so much time had passed?

Then again, who was she to say that anything was impossible? The last thing she did remember before coming to this terrible place was Anya, who was obviously some kind of demon. Had she done this somehow? Buffy and Faith had been there, she remembered seeing them briefly. Had there been some kind of instant-apocalypse that the Slayers had been unable to stop?

Xander led her through the hellish, broken landscape as if he knew every inch of it by heart, making the most of every tiny bit of cover he could find. More than once they almost ran afoul of monsters. Some of them, Cordelia belatedly realized, were vampires. Not the demon-in-a-human-corpse variety she was used to, though. They looked like vampires who had peeled off their human skins, leaving only the demons that had always lurked just beneath.

Finally they entered something that might have been a building once, little more than a crushed ruin now. Its basement was still intact and Cordelia recognized it as a bank vault. Someone had converted it into a kind of living area. Inside they met several other people, none of them familiar.

"Harris," one of them, an older man with greying hair, greeted Xander. "Finally back from your fool's errand, I see."

He looked at Cordelia. "So you are the girl he was so wild about freeing, eh?"

Cordelia, feeling offended somehow, gave him her best death glare. "Yeah, what of it?"

The man seemed very surprised by her words. Taking in her sorry state, he had probably expected her to be a skittish wreck or something. Well, she might not remember what had happened to her (and should probably be grateful for that), but she was certainly not going to be talked down to by anyone.

"She's amnesiac," Xander told the man. "Doesn't remember anything from when she was a prisoner."

The man pondered this for a moment. "A blessing, girl. Wish I could do that."

"Cordy, this is Max," Xander finally introduced them. "He put together this little survivors band here."

Figuring that this was not the moment to acquire tact, Cordelia just gave him a short nod before turning back to Xander.

"Okay, Xander. How about filling me in now. What happened? How did we end up in Hell?"

Xander sighed deeply, then motioned her over to a semi-private portion of the bank vault. They sat down on something that might have started out as a couch some centuries ago and Xander handed her some unidentifiable foodstuff. She hated the taste, but was profoundly thankful to have anything to quiet her aching stomach even a little.

"Are you sure you want to know this, Cordy?" Xander asked after they'd eaten a bit.

"I'm not asking you to give me a play by play of how... this," she motioned at her mangled body, "was done to me. But I need to know how it happened. Was it that demon in the school? That Anya girl?"

Smiling sadly, Xander shook his head. "The demon wasn't called Anya, Cordy. It was called Akathler. And it certainly wasn't a girl."

Cordelia was stunned once again. "Akathler? That big stone thing that would suck the entire world into hell? I thought the Watchers had taken care of him after Buffy and Angel vanished."

"Watchers? What are you talking about, Cordy? Those stuffy Brits never did a single thing to help us. Giles was the best of that sorry lot and even he could do nothing when deadboy unleashed that monster."

Deadboy? Angel unleashed Akathler? Slowly it was dawning on Cordelia that something was terribly wrong here, something much more profound than the entire world apparently having gone to Hell. So she did something truly extraordinary for her: She kept her mouth shut and motioned for Xander to continue.

"I was with Buffy when we made our last stand against Angel," he said, sounding incredibly tired. "She had that sword-thing, the one Kendra brought. Was supposed to save or us something. I barely remember.

"When we entered the mansion I was to find Giles and get him out. I only saw Buffy fighting one of the vamps while Spike turned on deadboy. Then I got the G-man and made fast tracks out into the sunlight."

He sighed deeply. "I don't know what happened inside the mansion, but suddenly the entire building crumbled and got sucked into this vortex. That's when I figured out that... that Buffy failed. Akathler had awoken and all was lost.

"There was no sense in running, even if I could have found it in me to just leave Giles lying there. So I watched. Then the vortex sucked me in and next thing I know... here we are."

He motioned all around him.

"The entire world ended up here, every bit of it as far as I can tell. All the buildings, cities, all the people. Haven't seen any animals since we got here, so maybe they were spared. I don't know.

"The demons went crazy after that. The vampires... they all shed their human skins like snakes. Probably figured they didn't need to blend in anymore. Then more monsters appeared. Soon they were rounding up the people left and right. There were some fights, some resistance, but it didn't last long. Most of our technology doesn't work here in Hell, so we were pretty much helpless."

He gave a shaky laugh. "That was also when we found out that, well, we couldn't die. Or age, for that matter. Somebody figured that, seeing as Akathler zapped us bodily into Hell, Death can no longer reach us here or something. So we live, no matter how messed up we get, no matter how broken. We keep on living. No escape."

Looking at Cordy, he shrugged. "That's pretty much it. I managed to keep myself from getting caught, not sure how. At first everything was chaos. Kinda got the feeling the demons were as overwhelmed by everything that went down as we were. Took them a while to sort it all out.

"Now most of the people are in the pens, getting tortured day in and day out. The demons are having a blast. And except for a few scattered groups such as this there is nothing else left. A few years ago, while scrounging for food, I spotted you in... one of the pens. Knew I had to get you out. Took me a while, though. Sorry about that."

He stopped, his story finished. Cordelia was trying to wrap her mind around everything she had just heard. Angel, still evil, had unleashed Akathler and the entire world had gone to hell? No, it hadn't happened that way. She knew it hadn't happened that way.

"This is wrong," she muttered.

"Tell me about it," Xander just said.

"No," she emphasized, grabbing his shoulders with her crippled hands. It hurt like a bitch, but right then she didn't much care. "I mean it, Xander. This is wrong! It didn't happen this way! Buffy stopped Angel! She sealed the portal and kept the world from getting sucked into hell."

Xander just gave her a pitying look. "Cordy..."

"Don't Cordy me," she yelled at him. "I'm telling you, this is wrong. It didn't happen that way. The world isn't supposed to be this way!"

Buffy! She had to find Buffy! Not that she'd ever admit it out loud, but if anyone could fix this mess, it was Buffy.

**TO BE CONTINUED**


	6. Chapter 6 of 12

**Author's Note**: This chapter is a little shorter than is the norm for me, mostly because it's more of an interlude than an actual chapter. Still, hope you enjoy this one as well as the previous ones. I fully plan to get this episode of Excedo Inferi finished no later than December, seeing as the next episode (dubbed "Silent Night") is the Christmas episode of Excedo Inferi (taking the place of the canon-episode "Amends"). Maybe I can write it in the spirit of the season.

_Serrafina_: Your question as how come everyone can survive in Hell when it was toxic to Buffy will be answered shortly, but not in this chapter. Suffice to say there is an explanation. Congrats on catching that little tidbit, though.

_Darklight_: Who says Cordy won't remember? I always thought it was a bit cheap that, at the end of the original episode, everything got turned back to what it was and no one remembered (not even Anya, it seemed). Don't expect it to be that way in Excedo Inferi.

_Arobow_: Glad I could anticipate your line of thinking so well. Hope you like this newest chapter.

And now, on with the show!

---------------------------------------------

**Part 6: **

A fine piece of work if she did say so herself. Anyanka was quite pleased. She would never have expected so simple a wish to have consequences such as these, so widespread and profound, but that was one of the perks of her job. The power of the wish was quite unpredictable and offered lots of fun in ways you would never even suspect.

Anyanka had always been one to take pride in her work and was not above accepting the praise that was due. So when she teleported home -home being the demon realm known as Arash Ma'har- she fully expected to bask in the praise of her co-workers and especially her boss, the demon D'Hoffryn.

Her expectations were not met.

Arash Ma'har was usually cloaked in near-perpetual darkness, where vengeance demons moved about their business in silence and dignity. Not so right now. The realm was lit, showing the empty rooms and corridors. There was also quite a bit of mess. Demons moved around with very little dignity and lots of hurry. All of them seemed quite peeved.

Once they noticed her, most of them gave her hostile looks.

"What is going on here?" she asked, directing the question at everyone and anyone.

"You have a lot of nerve coming back here," a deep voice said from behind her.

Anyanka turned around, coming face to face with her boss an patron, D'Hoffryn. Over the centuries she had gotten very good at reading the expressions on his inhuman face. He was angry and made no effort to hide it. Angry at her, it seemed.

"I don't understand," she confessed. "Why are you angry? What is happening here?"

D'Hoffryn grabbed her by the arm and dragged her toward his scrying room, the place from which he kept watch on the world. The scrying orb was empty. No, not quite empty. It still showed the Earth realm. Only there wasn't much there to see. Empty plains, craters were cities had been, slowly being reclaimed by nature. No humans anywhere.

"See what you have done?" D'Hoffryn growled at her.

"The wish I granted consigned all humans to Hell," she said, confused. "I thought... I thought you'd be proud of me."

Apparently seeing that she had absolutely no clue as to her wrong-doing, D'Hoffryn's rage lessened slightly. He sighed deeply.

"You stupid young thing. I have always admired your dedication to work, but you have always been short-sighted as to the possible consequences of granting a wish. Haven't I told you not to grant wishes that effect change on such a profound scale?"

"I did not expect it to have such consequences, but... I still don't understand. We are demons! Shouldn't we be overjoyed at consigning all of humanity to Hell?"

D'Hoffryn sighed once again. "In theory, yes! The downfall of humanity is every demon's goal. But you also need to look at the practical matter of things, Anyanka!"

"Practical matter?" she asked, her confusion not lessening.

"We are out of work," he thundered at her, losing his patience. "We are vengeance demons! Our whole raison d'être is to wreak vengeance among the humans. But with all humans in Hell, we can no longer do this!"

Slowly it began to dawn on Anyanka.

"I... I see how this could be a problem, but... can't we wreak vengeance on them in Hell, too? I mean..."

"No, we can't," he interrupted her. "Stupid thing, do you not remember the rules? Vengeance may only be wrought by human against human. And what human does have the time to think about vengeance on another human when he is being tortured endlessly by demons? And so, since vengeance is not allowed against fellow demons, we are out of job! The lease on Arash Ma'har is coming up and without a steady job we are being evicted. You have turned us all into homeless unemployed."

His rage apparently spent for the moment, he looked down at her.

"Now do you understand what you have done, Anyanka?"

The vengeance demon nodded. "I... I did not see this coming. I... I didn't indent for this to happen."

The barest hint of a smile softened his face slightly. "I know you didn't, little one. Still, you have done this."

Her shoulders bowed, Anyanka tried to think of anything she could to somehow make this right again.

"I... couldn't I take back the wish? Undo what I have done? I... I have done it before."

D'Hoffryn shook his head. "Taking back a granted wish is difficult at the best of times. One that has had such profound consequences... it would take an enormous amount of power and will. And I doubt your power centre would survive it."

Anyanka looked down at the pendant around her neck. D'Hoffryn had given it to her over a thousand years ago. It was what made her a vengeance demon, gave her the power of the Wish. To even consider losing it... still, what alternative was there?

"I will try to undo what I have done," she said, her voice steady. "I will seek out the one who made the wish and get her to revoke it. I will make this right."

D'Hoffryn looked at her for a long moment, something very much like pride in his eyes. "Then I wish you best of luck, my child. Remember, though! Only the one who made the wish can revoke it. So you must find her while she is still among the living. And you must be prepared to give up all your power."

Anyanka nodded. "If that's what it takes..."

With that she took her leave of Arash Ma'har and teleported back to the realm that was now a part of Hell.

**TO BE CONTINUED**


	7. Chapter 7 of 12

**Author's Note **: This next chapter, especially the end, will not be for the weak at heart. Remember that this story has an R rating and the last bit will be pushing the R, but I've refrained from getting too much into gory detail.

One remark about the whole Xander-thing: I've been catching some comments (and the occasional flame) from people about my rather negative portrayal of Xander in this series. The comments have been getting fewer since I've started Xander's 'redemption' a few episodes back, but I still occasionally get them. So let me just say that this episode will do a lot to redeem Xander in the eyes of his friends. Not completely, as he still did what he did for the completely wrong reasons, but a good deal.

I'm still not ever going to be a Xander-lover, but I do not, nor did I ever, intend for this series to be about Xander-bashing.

And now, on with the show!

--------------------------

**Part 7: **

Most people who had met Cordelia would never have considered the notion, but the girl was actually quite smart. Growing up as the daughter of a very rich family had made her somewhat lazy when it came to actually applying her smarts, but running with the Vampire Slayers had gotten her back on her feet, mentally speaking.

She fully realized that Xander didn't believe her. She had told him how things had really gone down, that only Buffy and Angel had gone to Hell and eventually returned. He had just looked at her with that guilty impression. He believed that years of being tortured by demons had simply broken her, that she was imagining things. Come to think of it, Cordelia couldn't be a hundred percent that he was wrong about that. Still, she might as well assume that she was both sane and right, the alternative wasn't really worth considering.

Xander had agreed to go with her on a fact finding mission, mostly because he really didn't have anything left to lose and probably didn't want to let her go out alone. Especially seeing as she wanted to head towards the centre of this particular region of Hell, the ruling palace generally known only as "The Tower". She figured that the bad guy's HQ was as good a place as any to start looking for answers.

It was a long way there, but it left her with ample time to think. There were quite a few things on her mind. Not least of which was herself. Although she had no memory of it, she -or this body rather- had been tortured quite extensively. She was starting to feel the effects of that, both physically and mentally. She was brittle, no telling how long until she ran out of steam. So she had to hurry and fix this, whatever it was, before she was no longer able to.

Another thing that was on her mind was this place. Cordelia had never read Dante's Divine Comedy, but Buffy and Angel had told them quite a bit about their journey through Hell. So far this didn't look like any of the regions they had spoken about. Also, there was this thing with being unable to die here. The only way for Buffy to survive Hell's environment had been for Angel to give her his vampire blood. So how come all the normal humans here were just fine and pretty much immortal? It didn't make any sense. Was this really Hell? And if yes, what part of it? Which Circle?

Xander didn't know anything about it. Apparently at the very beginning of their exile here groups of people had tried to explore this place and find a way out. None had ever returned. He didn't know if they'd been captured or simply vanished. Cordelia knew that Buffy and Angel had found their way out by travelling through all nine Circles of the Inferno. Maybe some others had managed the same in this warped world? There was no way to know.

The Tower came into sight long before they actually reached it. It was humongous, much taller than any building had any business being, its top vanishing into the perpetually grey sky. The wind seemed to be getting worse the closer they came to this structure and Cordelia could feel a knot of fear growing in her belly. For some reason other than the obvious she was quite scared of this place. She soldiered on, though.

"No one has seen Buffy," Xander told her during one of their rest stops. "Deadboy probably killed her during their battle. If so I hope he did it before the world went to Hell. At least then she'd have been able to pass on."

Cordelia said nothing. She knew that Buffy had beaten Angel in combat. Or so it had happened in the world she remembered. Who knew what had happened here. She still figured that the bad guys' HQ was as good a place as any to find the Slayer.

"Not sure what happened to deadboy," Xander continued. "Then again, I could have walked right by him a thousand times and not recognized him. What with all the vampires shedding their human skins. If he's around he'll finally look like the monster he is."

They were getting closer to the Tower now and Cordelia tried to fight the rising tide of fear inside of her by thinking about the other people that should be here. Where was Giles? Or Oz? Or Willow? What had happened to them? Were they all in some camp being tortured endlessly? For a moment she even thought of Harmony. Was the airhead also a prisoner down here? She probably was.

There were no guards or anything. The doors of the Tower were wide open. Occasionally they saw long lines of prisoners moving in and out of the huge building, herded along by vampires and other assorted demons, but that was pretty much it. If not for the perpetual howling of the winds Cordelia might have said that it was too quiet.

"Cordy, let's go back," Xander urged her. "Believe me, there is nothing good to be found here."

"Were you ever in here?"

He hesitated a moment, then nodded. "Just once. Snuck in, hoping to figure out... I don't know. Maybe some way to reverse this. Or maybe just some way to get myself killed. That was before I knew that there was no way to die here. I almost got caught and ran for my life."

Cordelia shook her head. She had found Xander to be, at times, adorable, insufferable, courageous, a loser, a waste of space, and heart-warmingly open. Never had she imagined him to ever be so... defeated. This wasn't the boy she remembered. Of course not, she reminded herself. The boy died years ago. This was a man who had endured over a century of Hell.

"Well, I need to do this, Xander," she told him. "I know you don't believe me, but something screwed up this world but good. It isn't supposed to be this way and there must be some way to turn it back. And I'm not leaving until I've found it."

Without waiting for a reply she walked into the Tower, careful to stay in the shadows. She heard Xander uttering some kind of curse and follow her.

The inside of the Tower was a maze of corridors and doors and Cordelia quickly became convinced that the interior had absolutely no connection to the outside boundaries of the building. Of course not, would have been too easy. They managed to evade the few demons and vampires they saw. Once they had to hide out for over twenty minutes to let a line of prisoners and their guards past. The humans in that line looked even more miserable and beaten down than the ones outside.

"Do they have some kind of special torture sessions in here?" she asked Xander. "You know, the ultra-painful kind for the humans who were especially good in life or something?"

Xander winced, but said nothing. Cordelia didn't press him on it, the look of pain in his eyes enough to make her display tact for once. Instead they snuck on, evading guards, trying to navigate the maze that was the ground level of the Tower.

"Good thing we don't age," Cordelia joked as they stopped for a rest. "We might be in here for a while." The joke fell flat. She hadn't expected Xander to laugh, really.

"We might actually be getting somewhere," Xander eventually said. Cordelia followed his pointing finger, seeing a very ornate and big door a good distance down the corridor. There was something hanging off the door, but she couldn't quite recognize it from this distance.

Carefully they moved closer. With every step Cordelia tried to figure out what it was that hung off the door, but couldn't quite get it. It was as if their mind refused to recognize what her eyes saw. Xander seemed to be having the same problem.

It wasn't until they stood nearly in front of the door that they realized what it was they were seeing. The realization hit them with such force that they almost stumbled. Cordelia bent over and would have puked her guts out had there been anything in their stomach. Xander took a few steps back until his back hit the wall.

"No, no, no, no," he muttered, shaking his head.

Cordelia forced herself to look up, to see what she now recognized.

There was a body hanging from the door. Or at least what was left of one. Legs and arms were gone, no trace of them. The torso was a ruin, barely recognizable for what it used to be. It was actually sewn into the door, which seemed to be made from human skin.

The only thing still intact was the face. A face that was looking at them right now. The mouth was sewn shut, but the eyes were open and moving. The full awareness and impotent sanity shining in those eyes was maybe the most terrible thing about this entire grotesque display.

"Buffy," Cordy whispered. "Dear God, no!"

The other half of the door creaked open and a vampire stepped out. His human guise was gone, replaced by the twisted demonic features all vampires now carried. His voice was still the same, though, and Cordelia easily recognized it.

"Oh, Buffy, dearest," Angelus cackled. "Why didn't you tell me we have visitors?"

**TO BE CONTINUED **


	8. Chapter 8 of 12

**Part 8: **

"Why don't you come in?" Angelus asked in a decidedly too-friendly tone, motioning for Cordelia and Xander to enter. It took a moment for his words to penetrate the fog that had descended over Cordelia's mind as she kept staring at Buffy, or what was left of Buffy. Tearing herself loose, Angelus' words registered.

She briefly looked at Xander, who was looking at her as well. From the corner of their eyes they saw that several demons had appeared at both ends of the corridor. Guards, no doubt. It seemed there was no point in running.

Xander walked in first, giving Buffy a long, tortured look as he walked past her. His hand briefly made as if to touch her, but then flinched back. Cordelia moved to follow him, but stopped when Buffy tried to make some sort of sound through her sewn-shut mouth. Which only caused Angelus to slap her.

"What did I tell you about speaking?" he asked, chiding her as one would a pet. "Besides, without that sharp tongue of yours I'm afraid you'd utter nothing but garbage anyway."

Cordelia paled, but somehow managed to walk on. Seeing Buffy like that had shaken her to the core and she could feel the brittle thing that was her sanity shiver. She didn't know how long she would be able to hold it together anymore.

The room behind the doors was a large and ornate throne room, stretching away in all directions. The ceiling was impossibly high above their heads, the room seemingly vaster than the entire base of the tower had been. The walls they could see were adorned with artwork and sculptures, gold and treasures were heaped in various spots. In regular intervals people were chained to the wall as well, none of them moving. The entire room was eerily silent.

Angelus walked past them, his demonic features impossible to read.

"I thought I'd finally quenched that rebellious streak of hers," he muttered, talking more to himself than anyone else, it seemed. "One would think that having your arms and legs cut off would make you somewhat calmer."

Looking over at Xander, Cordelia saw that he was trying to keep himself under control. His hands were shaking, curling into fists again and again. He probably would like nothing better than to attack Angelus right now, but knew that it would be pointless. The vampire would only tear him into shreds. It wouldn't kill him, but they had just seen that there were things a lot worse than death.

Angelus stopped, slapping his ridged forehead. "Oh, where are my manners. Would you like anything to drink? To eat? Ah, Cordelia, Xander, it is so nice of you to drop in. Again in your case, Cordy."

He looked at her as she wondered what he meant. "I have to say, you look a lot better than the last time I saw you. And here I thought I had gone too far with you."

"You dirty bastard," Xander muttered.

"What do you mean, too far?" Cordelia asked, not understanding. "I was never..."

Suddenly Angelus was right in front of her, so fast she hadn't even seen him move. One of his claw-like hands grabbed her chin, painfully holding her still as he looked into her eyes.

"Oh, the wonders of the human mind," he mused. "The last time I looked into these nice, shiny eyes of yours there was no one home anymore. But it seems you got better. Tell me, how much do you remember of the fun we had? Did you blank it all out or just the juicier bits?"

"Let go of her," Xander yelled, trying to attack Angelus. Without even looking the vampire brushed him away, sending him crashing to the floor where he crumbled into a motionless heap.

Something clicked in Cordelia's mind. She remembered how Xander had caught himself earlier when he had told her about seeing her as one of the prisoners. She remembered how lines of prisoners were led into the tower, looking a hundred times worse when they came out again. All that, coupled with Angelus' words...

Dear God, she had been here before. At the hands of this monster. That was why she had felt such subconscious panic upon seeing this place. Her entire body shivered, remembering things her conscious mind did not.

Was it true then? Was she really amnesiac? Had she made up some kind of alternate sequence of events in her mind simply to escape from the horror of the real world? Was all this actually real? Until earlier she had refused to even consider the possibility, but now...

"Will you share this time?" a new voice asked. One that was horrifyingly familiar. "I never get to have any fun around here."

Cordelia's eyes widened. A new vampire had entered the throne room. Like Angelus and all the others there was not a trace of humanity remaining in its appearance, but the voice, coupled with the strands of red hair still adorning its demonic head, told her all she needed to know.

"Willow," she whispered.

Angelus seemed less than pleased to see her, letting go of Cordelia to face the newcomer.

"What did I tell you about barging in?" he asked, sounding genuinely angry. "Don't you have a pet to walk?"

The 'pet' appeared form behind Willow, a huge wolf which she led on a thick chain fastened to its spiked collar. The wolf growled deep in its throat, foam at its mouth. One look into its all too-human eyes sufficed, though, for Cordelia to realize who that was.

"Oz," she managed, choking up on the word.

With a groan Xander came to, but froze as he saw the two monsters that had appeared while he was out. Did he know...?

"Xander," Willow shouted with joy. "I thought you'd crawled under a rock for good. It's great to see you again."

"Willow," he whispered, his voice clearly telling that he was only now realizing who the vampire was. Turning to look at Angelus, he growled almost as menacingly as the wolf just had. "You damn bastard, haven't you done enough already?"

Angelus sighed in annoyance. "Xander, dear boy, believe me! If there was one thing I could undo... anyway. Since you're already here," he looked at Willow, "be a dear and take these two to the dungeons. And don't lay a hand on them! That pleasure I reserve for myself."

"But I just want to..."

"NOW," Angelus thundered, causing Willow to flinch.

----------------------------------

Neither Cordelia nor Xander were in any state to put of resistance. Willow and Oz led them down some stairs and into a dank cell, where they were chained to the wall. Several other shapes were already there, chained in similar fashion, but all of them seemed unconscious (or dead? Was that even possible in this place?) and didn't react to their presence at all.

Willow left, not without telling them once again how great it was to have them back. The bubbliness of her voice contrasted sharply with her demonic appearance. After she was gone both humans were silent for a long time before Cordelia found her voice again.

"This can't be real," she whispered, trying to convince herself. "This isn't how it happened. Somehow I can still make it right."

"I'm sorry," Xander just said. "I was hoping... maybe I actually thought..." He fell silent again, out of words.

"Faith," Cordelia continued, oblivious of Xander's words. "Maybe she's here somewhere. Kendra died before the world went to Hell, so she was called as the Slayer. Maybe she can do something."

Unless, of course, there was no Faith. If she had just imagined everything that had gone down, then maybe Faith had never existed outside her own mind. Or maybe there hadn't been time to call a new Slayer before Akathler swallowed the world.

Maybe there was no hope at all.

"Willow," Xander muttered. "Oh, Willow, I'm so sorry."

"Don't be sorry for that bint," a new voice wheezed.

Cordelia, torn out of her thoughts, looked over at what she had originally assumed to be a pile of rags or something. The pile moved now, revealing a body beneath it. A decidedly non-human body. A vampire. Only this vampire looked like someone had fed it into a meat grinder. There seemed to be no bone unbroken and no piece of skin left unblemished.

"She's got it better than the lot of us," the vampire said, its voice carrying a very British accent.

"Spike," Xander cursed. "I had hoped you at least would be gone."

The broken vampire laughed, but it seemed to cause him quite a bit of pain. Cordelia could now see that he was also chained to the wall, though the chain had more slack than hers.

"So Spike?" she said, trying to ward off the despair she felt clinging at her mind with some scathing remarks. "Angelus still pissed you betrayed him?"

Spike growled, but of all the growls she had heard today it was by the far the least menacing of them all.

"Bloody poof," Spike muttered. "Told him sending humanity to Hell was a bad idea, but did he listen? No! And now I'm stuck here with you two losers. Just fabulous."

Looking at him, Cordelia estimated that Angelus must have tortured him for decades to get him into such a sorry state. Still clinging to some left-over hope, she decided to ask some questions.

"Spike, how did it come to this?" she asked. "What happened that day in the mansion? How did Buffy lose?"

Spike looked up at her, his feral eyes gleaming with some left-over defiance. Then he sighed, though, sinking in upon himself.

"Oh whatever," he said. "Might as well pass the time until Peaches comes back for his next round of jollies."

**TO BE CONTINUED**


	9. Chapter 9 of 12

**Part 9: **

"Me and the Slayer had this thing worked out," Spike began, leaning his broken body against the wall and looking at his captive audience. "I'd stab Peaches in the back, she'd let me and Dru get away. That was the deal. Didn't quite go down that way."

He sighed, obviously not relishing the memories he called up.

"Looked good at first. Angel didn't suspect a thing, the dim wit! I'm almost sorry I didn't get to see his face as I got out of the bloody wheelchair. But whatever, clocking him from behind made me feel pretty good, too."

"We know that part," Xander said, sounding tired. "What happened after I took the G-man out?"

Spike gave him an annoyed look, but seemed too tired to even comment on it. "Dru didn't take too kindly to me turning on Peaches," Spike continued. "She jumped me, tried to scratch out my eyes." He sighed deeply. "How can you not love a girl like that? Anyway, Slayer was still busy finishing off one of the boys, so Peaches took the coward's way out and pulled the sword thing out of Akathler. Didn't have the stones to take her down first."

Cordelia, trying to keep her wits together, listened to Spike's words with great interest. So far everything sounded exactly like Buffy and Angel had told it not too long ago. But something must have gone down differently for the world to end up like this. Something must have changed the past. She clung to that belief with every ounce of strength she had left, hoping she hadn't made it all up after all.

"They fought like hell," Spike continued. "Bollocks, I might as well admit that they impressed me a little. Poof seemed to be winning when I finally got Dru down and got out to head for higher ground. I'd barely made it to the car, though, when the building caved in and the bloody portal began to swallow everything up."

Damn it, Cordelia thought. Spike didn't know anything, either. He, too, had left before the battle between Angel and Buffy concluded.

There had to be some way to figure this out. Some way to make sense of it. She could feel the madness clinging at the edges of her mind, just waiting to swallow her up. She had to do something, anything, to keep it at bay.

"Do you know where we are, Spike?" she asked the first thing she could think of. "I mean, duh, we're in Hell, but where? Which circle?"

Spike gave her a funny look. "Circle? What do you know about the circles?"

Cordelia shrugged. "I know that Hell's layout roughly corresponds with what Dante wrote in his Divine Comedy." Throwing a side look at Xander, she added "don't act all surprised that I read some books now and then, okay?"

Truth to tell she had never read the book in question, but Buffy and especially Angel had told them a lot about Hell and how it corresponded and differed from Dante's work.

"Wouldn't have thought you had it in you, pet," Spike laughed brokenly. "Bint's right, boy. Hell is pretty much like Dante wrote. Not sure where the guy got his info from, but he got lots of it straight."

"So which circle is this?" Cordelia asked again.

Spike laughed. "Funny thing, really. Turns out that Hell wasn't exactly thrilled to get six billion new immigrants of the living variety. Oh, maybe they liked it in a general way, you know. Sending all humans to Hell's gotta appeal to any decent bloke. Still, it was pretty much chaos. Six billion people is a lot even if you got infinite space to work with, or so I was told.

"They made a new circle, that's where we are, pet. Number eleven, though I'm not certain why it isn't ten. Anyway, I haven't got the slightest where we are in relation to the other circles. Never did get the chance to get much sightseeing done."

Cordelia was thinking furiously, mostly to try and keep her sanity together.

"Is that why people are not dying? Because this circle was made specifically to keep the living prisoner here?"

Spike laughed at that, laughed so hard that his broken body shook.

"Oh, pet! You don't know how right you are. Yeah, they made this bloody circle to keep the living alive. Demons are demons, you know? The idea of actually torturing someone alive really got them going. So they took great pains to keep them living. There is no way out for anyone alive." He chuckled deep in his throat. "Except one, that is. Peaches didn't much like finding it, let me tell you."

"What?" Xander asked. "There is a way out?"

Spike gave him the finger. "Not one you're gonna like, boy. You did see your old kiddy friend earlier, didn't you?"

Xander obviously needed a moment to understand, but then horror dawned on his face.

"Willow," he whispered.

"Yeah, sweet little red," Spike nodded. "Bloody hell, Peaches is still regretting that one."

"What happened?" Cordelia asked.

Spike turned back to look at her. "What happened? Angel tried to be a fuckin' artist again. The great Picasso of Pain or whatever it is he calls himself these days. Turns out the little red tree tried to recurse him with his soul just before it all turned sour. He didn't like that one bit.

"Figured he'd be real smart, you know? A little insider info here, mates: Becoming a vampire hurts like hell. You swallow that cursed demon blood for the first time, it burns like fire in your veins and when death comes you welcome it with open arms. So Angel figured, what with people unable to die here..."

"He'd subject Willow to an eternity of that pain," Xander finished. "I'm gonna kill that bastard!"

"Yeah, good luck with that. Trouble is the poof didn't get what he wanted. Turns out being turned into a vampire is the one way to die around here. So sweet little Willow got vamped and... well, I guess her soul went wherever it is that souls go. So now the one he wanted to hurt the most got away from him and he's stuck with the vamp bitch from Hell, pun intended." He laughed. "Really screwed up his perfect little kingdom of pain here."

"Oh God," Cordelia whispered. This was getting worse and worse. She didn't know how much longer she'd be able to hold it together and no opportunity to make it right seemed to present itself. There had to be some way. Buffy'd be able to think of a way if she wasn't a door ornament now. Cordelia heard herself laughing bitterly at that thought and it didn't sound entirely sane.

Xander shook his head. "This is all my fault. I knew it was a mistake," he muttered.

"What?" Cordelia asked, barely listening anymore.

Xander looked up, rage and pain in his eyes. "Buffy should have killed that bastard," he spat. "And maybe she would have if I hadn't gone soft."

"Oh, there was a time you weren't soft?" Spike mocked. Cordelia and Xander both glared at him, which made him shrug. "Hey, I gotta find my fun where I can get it these days, okay?"

"Xander, what did you mean?" Cordelia asked.

"I messed up, Cordy, that's what," he yelled at her. "Buffy was all psyched up to kill Angel. I shoulda just let her. But no, I gotta be all noble and tell her that Willow was gonna resoul him. If I'd just..."

Cordelia didn't hear the rest of his words.

"That's it," she whispered, then started laughing. "Oh God, that's it! That's what went wrong. I should have known! I fucking saw it happen! Why didn't I get it before?"

Looking up, she saw both Spike and Xander looking at her. She guessed her laugh must have sounded even more crazy than before.

"That's it, don't you see?" she implored. "Xander told Buffy that Angel would get his soul back, so she hesitated. She woulda kicked his ass, but held back and that gave him the chance to finish his stuff and now the world's in Hell."

"That's what I just said," Xander told her. "Rub it in a little more, will you?"

"No, you don't understand," she pleaded with him. "It didn't happen that way the first time. You went there and instead of telling Buffy about the soul thing you told her to kick his ass. So she went and kicked and he got his soul back in the middle of the fight and she was forced to kill him to seal Akathler's portal back up, but it didn't happen that way because now you DID tell her about the soul thing and I guess that made her hesitate just enough for him to win and open the portal before Willow could finish her spell thing and..."

"Hold on a minute there, Cordy," Xander interrupted her. "You're not making any sense."

"What do you expect?" Spike asked. "Been wonderin' why the bint was so together again. I guess the pieces don't hold together anymore, do they?"

"No, this is all wrong," Cordy repeated. "I finally figured out what changed." She hesitated a moment. "Oh God, it was me. That stupid wish I made in front of that stupid demon girl and..."

"Hey, don't call me stupid, okay?" a new voice intruded.

All three conscious inhabitants of the cell turned to look at the new arrival, who stood near the door and looked back at them with a sheepish impression.

"Stop with the looks, okay?" she said, wringing her hands. "I know I messed up, but that isn't any reason to resort to name-calling."

"Anya," Cordelia spat.

"Well, it's Anyanka, actually. And I... well... I guess we need to fix some stuff, right?"

**TO BE CONTINUED **


	10. Chapter 10 of 12

**Part 10: **

"This is so awkward!"

Anyanka stood in one corner of the cell, appearing to any and all observers like a young girl who expected a severe talking-to after having messed up badly. The fact that she was not young in any sense of the word did little to dispel her discomfort. She had messed up and messed up good. And it seemed the only way to undo the damage she had done was to give up everything that made her who she was.

Not that the people currently around her knew any of that or would be interested if they did.

"You," Cordelia yelled at her. "You did this! I made this stupid comment and you somehow turned it into a magic spell! What did you do? And why? Why did you send the entire world to hell?"

Anyanka opened her mouth to answer, but was cut off by the rather interesting-looking young man chained to the wall beside Cordelia. She needed a moment to realize that the man in question was none other than Xander, the one whom Cordelia had originally felt resentment towards. It was that resentment which had brought Anyanka to Cordelia in the first place.

"Would somebody please explain this to me?" he demanded. "What the hell are you talking about? This girl didn't send the world to hell, Akathler did! What does she have to do with things?"

"Bint's not human," the broken vampire on the floor said. "What are you, girly? Some kind of new torture demon the poof recruited?"

Taking a deep breath, she started her explanation.

"I'm... well, a demon, duh! A vengeance demon to be precise. We aid scorned women. Well, not just women, but I kinda specialize. Anyway, when a woman is scorned and wishes ill on the man who scorned her, well..."

Cordelia looked at her with disbelief in her eyes. "That's what you were after? Is that why you kept pushing me to wish something icky to happen to Xander?"

"To me? What did I do this time?" Xander asked, more confused by the moment.

"You didn't," Cordelia said. "At least not anymore. I can't believe... how did you turn some lingering resentment towards Xander into... this?"

Anyanka looked down.

"All vengeance demons are given the power of the Wish. We... well, when a mortal makes a wish, we can make it happen. We're supposed to make it happen in a bad way, of course. We're demons after all. Once this woman wished her ex-husband would never fuck around again, so I made his dick fall off and..."

"Too much information," Xander yelled, straining against his bonds. "What does that have to do with us being in hell?"

Cordelia looked at him. "That's what I was trying to say just a second ago, you idiot! This isn't the way the world is supposed to be. Buffy stopped Angel! She didn't hesitate, she beat him! Akathler was sealed, the world didn't go to hell! Only now everything has gone wrong just because Ms. Demon-of-the-Year here is such an overachiever."

"I didn't plan this, okay?" Anyanka whined. "The power of the Wish is... well, sort of unpredictable, especially on a Hellmouth. You wished for the past to change. Didn't you watch enough science fiction movies or what? Changing the past can always lead to bad stuff."

Cordelia fumed at her, rage and insanity dancing behind her eyes. "Why are you here, Anya? Do you enjoy watching the misery you've caused?"

"No, none of that!" Anyanka hesitated a moment, looking at Xander again. "Okay, maybe it is a bit of a kick to see the one who caused you misery to end up like this but... that's not why I'm here."

Cordelia shared a look with Xander, seeing the utter devastation on his face. She wasn't sure he believed any of what he was hearing right now, but she had figured out a few things. Xander blamed himself for her extended stay at Angelus' mercy in this screwed-up world, that much was clear. And it was killing him. God, she had never wanted anything like this, not for him, not for anybody else.

She could almost feel the memories of that other Cordelia hammering away at her mind, threatening to overwhelm her. Soon she wouldn't remember how the world was supposed to be. Soon she would be part of this.

"Turn it back," Cordelia yelled at Anya, desperation in her voice. "I don't care about any stupid demon rules or whatever! I take back my wish! Make the world as it was before. Do it! Please!"

Anyanka looked at her, seeming torn.

"It's... well, it's complicated, okay? I mean, wishes can be taken back. Used to be that didn't work, but there was that whole affair where we were sued by wife whose husband died because of a wish and how she didn't have a livelihood anymore and all of Arash Ma'har had to chip in for the settlement and..."

"Bint sure is a babbler," Spike commented.

"Look, it's not easy for me, okay?" Anyanka told them. "To take back a wish... I'm not even a hundred percent sure it can work. Some vengeance demons have done it in the past, but most of them ended up powerless. This is a tremendous decision for me, okay? I'd be out of work. Just... just because your lives have become a little more difficult, I'm supposed to end mine? That's not exactly fair, don't you think?"

Everyone just stared at her for a moment.

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?" Cordelia yelled. "Not exactly fair? You sent the entire world to hell, you stupid bitch! You fucked up so bad the word 'fair' isn't even in the dictionary anymore. I don't care if you have to line up at the unemployment office for the rest of eternity. Put the world back the way it was!"

Anyanka inched back from Cordelia's yell.

"Okay, maybe I should put it back, but... it's difficult. And I'm gonna need your help, Cordelia."

"My help? What can I do?"

"You made the wish. Only you can take it back."

"I already told you, I take it back! There! Now put the world back!"

Anyanka rolled her eyes. "Oh please, you really think it's that easy? If it were that easy everyone would be playing around with time and history. I mean, amateurs like that Sajan demon think they are the grand muck-a-mucks of time travel, but..."

"Shut up," Cordelia yelled again. "Okay, what do I have to do?"

"You... well... you need to...," Anyanka paused a deep breath. "You need to take back your wish and then... then you need to stab me in my centre."

There was a long moment of silence.

"Come again?" Xander asked.

"Can you do that right here?" Spike wanted to know. "Because I haven't had a good show in quite some time, and..."

"Not like that, you pervert," Anyanka thundered at him. "She needs to..."

Whatever else she was about to say never made it past her lips, because quite suddenly a pair of hands grasped her around the neck from behind and twisted, quite efficiently breaking it.

Anyanka slumped to the floor at the feet of Angelus.

"I didn't quite catch all of that," the vampire cackled, "but killing her seemed like the best way to shut her up, wouldn't you agree?"

TO BE CONTINUED


	11. Chapter 11 of 12

**Part 11: **

Cordelia was having a hard time keeping her wits together. It had been there: The chance to make everything right again. The chance to undo the damage she had unwittingly done by uttering that stupid wish. Just a few more seconds and Anya, Anyanka, whatever... would have told her what she needed to do. Only now Anya was dead and Angelus was here.

The ruler of Hell's eleventh circle stood before them, flanked by the vampire that had been Willow and another vamp Cordy didn't recognize, and looked mighty pleased with himself. Anya was lying at his feet, her head facing backwards, quite dead. The bastard was laughing and the sound was like glass shards cutting through the tiny threads still holding her sanity together.

"Tommy," Angelus addressed the vampire to his right, "be a good sport and go kill the guards for me, will you? I can't have strange people wandering into my dungeons at will, can I?"

"Will do, boss," Tommy said and left, apparently very eager to carry out his orders.

"As for the rest of you," Angelus turned his attention on them, "I really would like to know what she was doing here, but I guess you won't tell me without some torture, will you? That's fine."

"Can I help?" Willow asked, giggling. "I'd really like to help, especially with Cordelia. We had such fun the last time."

Cordelia was suddenly assaulted by a memory, coming so strong it was almost like a physical blow. She saw this... thing, the demon Willow had become. Saw herself at its mercy for hours and hours on end. Saw... things she didn't want to think about. God, what had her other self endured in this strange, fucked-up world?

Angelus gave Willow an annoyed look. "How many times do I have to tell you, they are all mine."

The red-headed vampire pouted. "You are just pissed at me because my soul got away from you. Not my fault it didn't stay."

Angelus was about to make an angry retort, but was cut off when Anyanka jumped up from the ground. Her face didn't look human anymore. She was all-demon now and quite obviously pissed.

"I've had the worst day, you know?" she hissed, quickly wrenching her head around until it faced the right way again. "I find out my job is history, all my peers hate me, and I may have to sacrifice all that I am to put it right. And then you go and do something like this."

Her hands morphing into claws, she stalked toward Angelus. "I'm so gonna make you pay for all of that, you bastard!"

Angelus didn't have time for a reply before the vengeance demon barrelled into him, looking to him rip him into tiny little pieces. Angelus was not exactly a weakling, though, and the two monsters tore into each other with frightening intensity.

"I'm gonna rip your dead heart out," Anya hissed, looking to do just that. "Do you know how much it hurts to have your neck broken?"

"No, really? How inconsiderate of me. Here I wanted to kill you painlessly."

Willow didn't seem inclined to help her master in any way, looking slightly amused at the spectacle of the fight. Unfortunately the sound of the scuffle attracted the attention of some other vampires, who came streaming into the dungeon. Either they weren't guards or Tommy simply hadn't gotten around to them yet.

"Protect the master," one of them yelled. Moments later they were doing their best to pry Anya off of Angelus.

"Piss off," she yelled, throwing several of them around like toys. One of them hit the wall right beside Cordelia. Obviously enraged at being manhandled like that, he reached for the nearest available weapon.

Which happened to be the chain that held Cordelia against the wall.

She thought her neck was going to break as the vampire ripped the chain from wall, wrenching her off it with tremendous force. Something snapped somewhere in her body, a surge of pain tearing through her like lightning. She dropped to the floor, forgotten by her unwitting liberator, writhing in agony.

"CORDY," Xander yelled, struggling to get free, but to no avail.

"Kill the bitch," Angelus ordered, even as more than a dozen vampires were doing their best to subdue an enraged Anyanka.

Cordelia managed to raise her head a few inches, her back hurting like crazy. She was actually pleasantly surprised that she could still move at all, having been certain that the vampire had broken her spine along with the chain.

The tide of memories from the other Cordelia that tried to overwhelm her actually helped this time. This pain was nothing compared to what she had experienced during her time at Angelus' and Willow's mercy. Pain and her were old friends and the stubbornness of the 'old' Cordelia helped overcome it.

Anyanka was losing. Oh, she was extracting a heavy toll from the vampires assaulting her, but there were too many of them. The vengeance demon was being buried under a mass of bodies and Cordelia had no doubt that, once she was down, Angelus would find a way to kill her, even her breaking the neck didn't work. He was quite inventive that way.

This was it, she realized. Her last chance to make this right. She had to move, damn it! Do something! Pushing the pain aside, she made it to her knees. No one was paying any attention to her at the moment except Xander, but she couldn't spare the time to reassure him of her well-being. She had to think and think fast.

_You need to take back your wish and then... then you need to stab me in my centre. _Those had been Anya's words. Stab her in the centre? What centre? She obviously hadn't meant it in the sexual way, so what else...

Looking at Anyanka, still fighting off the vampires, she suddenly saw it. There was a green jewel imbedded in the vengeance demon's collar bone. Seeing it now, she dimly remembered her human form wearing a necklace with a jewel in exactly the same place. The jewel was glowing, almost crackling with energy. That had to be it.

Searching the dungeon with her eyes, Cordelia found something that might just do the trick. One of the vampires Anyanka had thrown into a wall was unconscious and there was a weapon lying next to him, some kind of spear. What did vampires need spears for anyway? Not that it mattered. As fast as her aching body allowed, Cordy crawled over to the fallen vamp and took up his weapon.

Struggling to her feet, she saw that the battle was over. Anyanka was beaten. Four vampires held her still, their vast strength enough to pin her to the ground. Angelus was standing above her, now grinning once again.

"I don't know what you are," he said, cackling, "but I will have a very good time finding the best way to kill you. Oh, what fun we will have."

"Go to hell," Anyanka spat.

"Too late for that, bitch. We're already there. And you'll never leave. No one will."

Some part of Cordelia wanted to give a witty remark, something along the lines of 'not if I can help it', but she quickly realized that it would only ruin her one chance to put this right. She was still being ignored. No time like the present.

With a running start she rushed toward the scene, praying that the vampires would be too surprised to stop her with their superior strength and speed. Hefting the spear with every little bit of strength remaining to her, she ran straight at the pinned Anyanka.

"I take back my wish," she muttered, raising her weapon.

"What the...," Angelus said, noticing her.

"Oh, this is going to hurt," Anya muttered, seeing her approach.

"I want my world back," Cordelia whispered and threw herself forward, her full body weight driving the sharp tip of the spear into the glowing green jewel on Anyanka's neck.

The last thing Cordelia saw was the demonic mask of fury that was Angelus' face. Then everything spiralled away into darkness.

**TO BE CONCLUDED**


	12. Chapter 12 of 12

**Part 12: **

And so the world was restored. The change of history that caused all of humanity to go to Hell was undone. Everything returned to the way it should be.

Most people would remember nothing of what had occurred. Not surprising, really. Without any frame of reference for such a monumental event, the human brain went the path of least resistance, discarding all memories of things that weren't possible, could never have happened, and went on from there.

Some people would remember fragments of this strange, warped version of history. They would see it in their nightmares, sometimes during the waking hours. Some would go insane from it, unable to cope with the images their brains could not let go. Those people would be few and far between, though.

And a very few people, no more than a handful, really, would remember. Their minds, accustomed to the strange and supernatural, would not push the memories aside so easily. Their lives would not be the better for it.

-------------------------------

It was a sombre group of people that assembled in the Sunnydale High School library that afternoon. Outside the sun was shining brightly. They could hear the easy chatter of students just outside. Inside the library, though, there was very little chatter. Just stunned silence.

"I can't believe all that really happened," Buffy whispered, shaking her head. "I... I only remember... God."

Her voice trailed off, her body curling in on itself. Buffy had made a brief visit to their apartment to see Angel. She would not say what had gone down, but Angel had not returned with her. Not surprising, really. If Angel remembered even a fragment of what had happened, of the century he had ruled in Hell as Angelus... it was too horrible to contemplate.

Cordelia looked around the circle of her friends and just managed to stop herself from crying. Her brain was telling her that none of this was her fault. That she could not possibly have known about Anya or what a few uttered words would cause. Her heart was telling a different story, though.

Giles and Oz remembered almost nothing. A few flashes of nightmare, nothing more. Come to think of it, she never had found out how Giles had fared in that other world. Maybe he had died from his injuries before the world was swallowed, making him one of the lucky ones. And Oz, well, spending most of his time in werewolf form had probably made sure that he retained only very few clear impressions.

Buffy clearly remembered things, though she would not talk about it. Same with Faith, another whom Cordy had no idea about. The two Slayers had both fallen into a deep funk the moment the world had returned to normal, giving Anya time to run away. Cordelia had no idea what her state of being was and found that she didn't much care right now.

The only one pretty much unaffected seemed to be Willow . Small wonder, really. If Spike had told the truth about her, if she'd really been the only one who somehow managed to escape from that Hell, even through death, she'd really been the lucky one.

As for Cordelia herself, well, she remembered quite clearly, at least those parts she had consciously taken part in. The memories of that other Cordelia, the one who had been tortured at Angelus' hands for God alone knew how long, were no longer trying to overwhelm her. There were some remnants there, images and feelings she was sure she was going to see the moment she fell asleep tonight, but they didn't bother her right now.

No, there were quite a few other things on her mind.

"This is extraordinary," Giles mumbled, leafing through a book. Cordy suspected it was more to calm himself down than to actually research anything. "I've read of vengeance demons and the power of the Wish, but that they could change the very fabric of time and space to such an extent..."

"She said it was the Hellmouth," Cordelia added. "Something about it intensifying the Wish or something."

"And... and you broke her power centre and rescinded the wish?" he asked, making notes on a small pad. His hands were a bit shaky.

"Pretty much. I feel... I don't know. It seemed too easy, you know? The whole world in hell and all you gotta do is break a stone and all is well again. But I guess it worked."

Looking around the circle of sombre people, Cordelia was quite aware that "all is well again" was not the correct choice of words.

"Well, we should definitely try and do our best to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again," Giles said.

"And how do we do that?" Faith asked, her first words since the world was restored to normal. "If a few words can send the world to Hell..."

"Well, for starters, I would advise everyone to refrain from using the word 'wish' in the future, especially here on the Hellmouth. And furthermore...," he paused, thinking. "Furthermore..."

Faith looked at Cordy. "Furthermore, the next time we tell you that the new girl gives off a funky vibe, maybe you should listen to us instead of chatting her up and making stupid wishes." With that she stormed out.

Buffy rose, walking toward the exit as well. Stopping at Cordelia's side, she put a hand on her shoulder. "She didn't mean it that way, Cordy. You did good today. It's just..."

"Yeah, I know," Cordy said. She wasn't exactly feeling like a hero, either, right now.

The group soon dispersed, leaving but Giles and Cordelia behind. Giles looked at the young woman with a thoughtful look.

"I realize you never said exactly what you wished for exactly," he remarked.

That was true. She had only told the others that she had uttered some nonsense about the whole 'Buffy and Angel go to Hell' thing and that Anyanka had gone on from there.

"Yeah," she simply said. "I didn't."

-------------------------------

Cordelia found Xander wandering outside the school, clearly lost in though. Falling into step beside him, they enjoyed the silence for a few minutes before he looked at her.

"It was because of me, right?" he asked. "I... I don't remember exactly what happened. Most of it is a blur, but... we were in some kind of dungeon and that demon chick said... something about you resenting me and wishing some kind of icky thing to happen to me."

Cordelia sighed. She had dreaded finding out exactly how much Xander remembered, seeing as he was the only one who had been there for the whole exposition scene with Anya. Clearly he remembered something.

"None of this was your fault, Xander," she said. "For once." That managed to bring out a small smile.

"So are you gonna tell me how exactly it came down?"

She looked at him for a moment, then shook her head. "No. No, I think if I did, there'd be too many 'what if's and 'maybe's flying around and we got more than enough angst in our group already, don't you think?"

He seemed poised to argue the point for a moment, but then deflated and simply nodded. "Probably."

"Just one thing," Cordelia added after a moment of silence.

"Yes?"

She looked at him, thinking over the last few months. The last year, actually, ever since they had become a couple. All the things that had gone wrong, starting with a love spell and ending with a brief trip to Hell for the entire world.

"We're okay, Xander," she said. "You and me. We're okay."

For a moment he didn't understand her, but after looking into each other's eyes for a long moment, he did. They were okay. They weren't a couple anymore and probably would not be again, ever. But she was not resenting him any longer, nor was she hating him. Forgiveness was probably the wrong word. They were okay, that summed it up the best.

"So now what?" he asked as they kept walking.

"How would I know? Two weeks to Christmas. Knowing our luck, Santa Claus will turn out to be a child-eating demon or something."

Xander managed to laugh. "Like that would ever... oh God, I just jinxed it, didn't I?"

"You probably did."

THE END

-------------------------------

**Excedo Inferi continues in: Silent Night, Holy Night **

After everything that went down recently, the gang tries to put together a happy, apocalypse-free Christmas Eve for all involved. What are the odds of all the big bads in Sunnydale taking time off to enjoy the season? Surprisingly good, actually.


End file.
